Footwear



Patented Feb. 20, 1945 FOOTWEAR Sal Pipitone, New York, N. Y., assignorto La Marquise Footwear, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of NewYork Application September` 1, 1943, Serial No. 500,768

(Cl. .S6-19.5)

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to footwear and has a particular field ofutility in slippers for ladies boudoir use.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide footwear ofthe abovetype, which shall afford enhanced comfort in wear and shall be durablein use and which may be produced expeditiously at relatively low cost,largely by machine-work and with a minimum of hand-work. but shall yetaiord assurance of neatness and accuracy in workmanship diicult toattain even by the most careful hand-work, and have the earmarks of amore costly hand-'made or custom-made article.

The present application vis a continuation in part of my copendingapplication. Serial No. 424,253, led December 24, 1941, now Patent No.2,344,057, granted March 14, 1944.

ln the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one oi various possibleembodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. l is a perspective View of the slipper.

Fig. 2 is a ,view in longitudinal cross-section on a slightly largerscale taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l.,

Fig. 3 is a View in transverse cross-Sectio taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. i is a perspective view of the reinforced felt sole body,

Mg, 5 is a perspective view of the felt heel cushion member,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the sub-assembly made up of the elementsof Figs. 4 and 5,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the inverted upper with its attachedperipheral binding partly turned down,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the undersole,

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the drawstringarrangement on the binding, and

Fig. ill is a perspective view showing the com'- plet/e assembly withthe undersole partly removed.

The article of footwear, shown as a slipper, as appears from theperspective View of Fig. i and the sections of Figs. 2 and 3, comprisesgenerally speaking, an assembly of an upper, U, having an insole lillwith a binding il encompassing the peripheral edge of the sole body i2to the base ci" which is adhesively applied an undersole i3.

The sole body includes a felt sole piece ill to the under face of whichthere is adhesively attached the heel l5 desirably of laminated paperand to the upper face of which is riveted as at i6 an axially disposednarrow spring steel reinforcing strip I1 extending from near the rear ofthe heel end to somewhat beyond the Waist Over the element of Fig. 4there issuperposed a heel cushion shown in Fig. 5. This cushion may'comprise a at sheet I8 of felt preferably backed by a narrower andshorter strip i9 of felt or equivalent yielding material longitudinallythereof and adhesively secured thereto. The narrow strip I9 of the unitof Fig. 5 is superposed over that of Fig. 4 and adhesively securedthereto as shown in Fig. 6.

The upper shown in Fig. 7 includes the inner sole l0 and vamp piece 2D.The binding il is stitched peripherally about the insole l0 desirably inthe same stitching operation by which the vamp is attached thereto. Thatpart of the insole which extends to theI rear of the vamp is attachedsolely to said binder.`

The assembly of Fig. 6 and the upper of Fig. 7 are now combined toproduce the substantially complete slipper structure. For this purpose,the binding strip il before the same is incorporated in the assembly ofFig. 7, is desirably made up with zigzag stitching 22 lengthwise alongand completely about the free edge and on both sides thereof, as bestshown in Fig. 8. A drawstring 23 is desirably anchored in place underthe zigzag stitching at the outer face of the binding concurrently withthe zigzag stitching operation.

'I'he assembly of Fig. 6 is superposed upon the inverted insole lli, sothat it is encompassed by the upstanding rim of the binding il.Thereupon the drawstring 23 is drawn tight by hand and knotted in placeat 24. 'In this tightening of the drawstring, the upstanding wall of thebinding strip il is automatically laid down neatly at 25 over the feltsole piece i4 neatly and securely to encompass the edge of the solebody. If desired, cross stitching 26 may be used at the constrictedmedian part to draw the opposite inturned edges of the binding together,for tacking the same at the narrow or central portion thereof. Thebinding strip is thus secured with great expedition and perfect neatnessabout the sole body, and this at a cost of but a fraction of thatinvolved in a hand stitching operation. In this operation, the bindingstrip is maintained in tensioned condition about the rear part of theinsole and the heel cushion of Fig. 5 is thereby snugly compressedbetween the sole body i2 and the insole lil, so that in the specicembodiment shown, the felt section i8 becomes longitudinalhf bowed aboutthe narrower felt backing I9 thereof, as best shown in Fig. 3.

The undersole assembly shown in Fig. 8 may comprise a body of paper orcardboard 21 covered with leather underface 28, the border of which isturned inward and adhesively secured as at 29. Over the inner face isadhesively secured a. layer 3l) of cotton batting. The undersoleassembly may now be adhesively attached over the base of the sole bodyto conform to the contour of the heel I5 as shown in Figs. 2 and 10. Theundersole assembly completely seals the drawstring 23, the inturned rim25 of the binding Il and the felt I4,

` The compressed felt heel piece affords extraordinary comfort in use.

It will be understood that while the invention finds its preferredapplication to boudoir slippers for ladies, it is not limited to suchuse, but might be applied to other articles of footwear.

As many changes could be made inthe above construction, and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanyingdrawing, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. An article of footwear comprising a sole body having a cushionstructure, an insole, a vamp attached to and rising from the forwardpart thereof, a binding stitched about the periphery of said insole andbeing the sole element attached to that part of the insole which extendsto the rear of the vamp, said binding encompassing said sole body andbeing inturned and secured at its lower edge under said sole body intensioned condition about said entire rear part of the insole, wherebythe insole is bowed about said cushion structure and maintains the sameunder compression, and

an undersole overlapping the inturned part of the binding and attachedthereto.

2. An article of footwear comprising a sole body, having a felt cushionstructure at the rear part thereof and with a heel aixed thereunder, aninsole, a vamp attached to and rising from the forward part thereof, abinding strip stitched peripherally about said insole and being the soleelement, attached to that part of the insole to the rear of the vamp,said binding strip encompassing said sole body and being maintainedtightly thereabout with its edge under said sole body and the heelthereof, thereby maintaining the insole stretched and bowed over thecorrespondingly compressed felt cushion structure, and an undersoleoverlapping the inturned part of the binding and attached thereto.

3. An article of footwear, comprising a solo body, having a felt cushionstructure at the rear part thereof with a heel aiiixed thereunder, aninsole, a vamp attached and rising from the forward part thereof, aperipheral binding strip about said insole and being the sole elementattached to that part of the insole that extends rearwardly of the vamp,said insole and said binding strip being held together by peripheralstitching, said binding strip encompassing the sole body and beingperipherally inturned and secured under tension with its edge under thesole body and the heel thereof, and smoothly covering the lateral wallof said heel, thereby maintaining the insole stretched and bowed overthe edge of the heel end of the correspondingly compressed cushionstructure and an undersole overlapping theI inturned edge of the bindingand attached to the under surface of the sole body and its heel.

4. The article of footwear as claimed in claim 3 in which the bindinghas zigzag stitching about the periphery thereof, a drawstringmaintained by said zigzag stitching and in taut relation, therebyholding the edge of the binding inward under the sole body andmaintaining the tension.

SAL PIPITONE

